July 27 will be the longest lunar eclipse of the XXI century

July 27, 2018 will be a red lunar eclipse, which is also called “bloody”. According to the Moscow Planetarium, the total phase of the eclipse will be one hour and 44 minutes. It will be held from 22:30 to 00:14 Moscow time. The eclipse itself will last three hours and 56 minutes (from 21:24 to 01:20) and will be visible in most countries of Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, as well as in virtually all regions of Russia.

The red shade of the moon will gain because of the scattered rays of light. Usually it reflects the entire spectrum of colors, but during the lunar eclipse, sunlight, skirting the earth’s atmosphere, loses short-wave colors. As a result, shades close to red remain from the entire spectrum.

NASA employee Noah Petro explained why this eclipse will be the longest in the 21st century:

“If we imagine a shadow from the Earth in the form of a cone, the vertex of which is opposite to the Sun, then the Moon can pass both through its top and through the middle. This time, the moon will be closer to the middle, so the eclipse will take longer than what we saw in January. ”

At the same time, Mars will approach the Earth at a minimum distance over the past 15 years. The distance between the planets is 57.6 million kilometers. According to NASA, the Red Planet can be seen with the naked eye. Both celestial bodies – both the Moon and Mars – will be visible simultaneously on the night of July 27th.